Motherhood and Female Labour Supply

This study examines the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on women's employment in Russia, considering the presence of underage children. Using panel data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS‑HSE) for the years 2015–2023, both a pooled logistic regression and a random-effects panel logit model were estimated. Special focus was placed on the variable indicating whether a woman has only underage children, as well as the number of such children. The findings show that having one underage child does not reduce the likelihood of being employed, while having multiple children significantly lowers employment probability. These results partially confirm the proposed hypotheses and highlight the importance of policy support for mothers, especially those with more than one child, during times of economic shocks. Keywords: women’s employment, COVID‑19 pandemic, underage children, logistic regression, panel data.